“Complete, less engine, propeller, and radios” 1964 Mooney This is one of those airport stories that.
Item specifics
| Used |
| “Complete, less engine, propeller, and radios” |
| Model Year: | 1964 | Make: | Mooney |
The M20E came with more horsepower than the M20C. For some reason, the RV guys think they need 200hp on their little airplanes when 160hp or 180hp will do. They"re even willing to take apart perfectly good Mooneys in order to get the IO-360s for their experimentals.
The wags at the airport say the owner"s next plan was to part out the little Mooney to recoup some money, so he started disassembling it. Out came the instruments and interior... and off came all the control surfaces. The airplane was taken apart until it was time to de-mate the wing. It was at this point that another airport bum offered to buy the airframe if he"d just stop taking it apart. It was this new owner"s plan to install an engine he had sitting in his hangar so that he"d have a fast, four place cross-country airplane to fly his family around in.
Well, that new owner never got around to it. He got involved with mission work, repairing aircraft that fly needed supplies into remote villages in South America. Other things also occupied his time until more than a decade had passed by with the Mooney still sitting in shaded storage and its other pieces stashed away in his hangar.
Last year, he sold off the engine he"d planned to use on this airplane and then sold the Mooney to a guy in New Mexico. Plans changed for that new owner as well. He paid the storage for a while and then stopped last October. After the hangar owners didn"t get their rent for several months and were unable to contact the new owner by telephone, email, and registered letter, they hired a lawyer to put a lien on the airplane.
That"s when I got involved; having found the new owner through , I let him know about the lien notice taped to the airplane. He was in the process of trying to sell the airplane and was surprised that his "soon to be ex-assistant" hadn"t been paying the bills.
So, we made a deal, the airplane became mine, and the storage owners were paid off. Then, MY PLANS CHANGED as well. I"ve taken a job out of state and won"t be able to take this project with me. It won"t be until the summer that I move and I will return in a year, but think fate is telling me that I should concentrate on other things.
I thought about de-mating the wing and putting the Mooney into storage in my back yard, but that would expose it to the sun and I wouldn"t be able to check on it often. The Arizona desert is a great climate for aircraft, as there is no corrosion here. However, the relentless sun would wreak havoc on its fabric and plastic, which I don"t want to do.
What is now offered for sale is an M20E with no damage. This is not a wheels up landing accident project or a wreck. It is a complete aircraft with instruments, autopilot, interior, prop spinner, etc. that has suffered from what a friend of mine calls "take-apart-itis". I gathered the disassembled parts from various places around the airport and inventoried them in my hangar this morning. I found everything including nav lights, exhaust system, engine baffles, landing lights, instrument wiring, autopilot system.... even the screws and nuts were thrown into containers. The engine, prop, and radios are gone, but even the prop spinner backplate is in with the parts boxes. Logs are complete since new.
If you ever wanted a Mooney project that you"d put modern avionics into here"s your chance, as the panel has been pulled apart already to save you work. The airframe is ready for final disassembly to move to your place. Storage is paid until the end of the month. After that, you"ll need to make other arrangements. Outside tie downs are available for $50 a month, but I suggest you come get this Mooney before the weather gets hot. By June, we will be hitting more than 100F here in the desert, but for the next couple of months the weather here will be fantastic. Bring your golf clubs and enjoy an early spring (especially you northeast guys).
Current date: 2019-03-11